America's rising judo star conquers the international tatamis
By Nicole Jomantas-USA Judo

Colorado Springs, Colo. August 12, 2007– Since she was 17, Ronda Rousey (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE) has been unofficially dubbed “the one.”

“The one” to become one of the best female judo players in the world.

“The one” to win a medal at the World Championships.

And ultimately “the one” to become the first U.S. woman to win an Olympic medal since judo became a full medal sport for women in 1992.

So far she’s lived up to the hype, winning World Cup and Pan American titles and becoming the #4-ranked player in the world at 63kg in 2006.

But judo’s a sport with a lengthy list of major events and fighting the top women in the world doesn’t happen often, so the question remained: “How will she do against World Champions and Olympic medalists in a division she’s only fought in since February?”

The answer? “She’ll be just fine.”

Or so it appeared on Sunday when Rousey fought arguably two of the best players in her new 70kg division, defeating the reigning World Champion and nearly knocking off an Olympic medalist en route to winning a bronze medal at the German Open in Braunschweig.

Rousey began the day with a draw that might give other players nightmares – seemingly the only good news was a first-round bye followed by a second round against Annett Boehm (GER), a 2004 Olympic and 2003 World medalist. The winner of that match would fight reigning World Champion Edith Bosch (NED).

“I was happy to get the hardest quarter of the draw,” Rousey said. “I didn’t come here to win the German Open. I came here to get my hands on the best girls before Worlds.”

Rousey dominated her first match against Boehm so greatly that the Olympic medalist ultimately was given a penalty for stalling – a rarity at a European tournament. With a minute and a half left, Boehm threw Rousey for a yuko (quarter-point). Rousey got a throw of her own in during the final seconds of the fight, but only received a koka (smallest points) score.

In the repechage, Rousey defeated Stephanie Eggert (SUI) by a yuko score to advance to her match against Bosch.

Both Bosch and Rousey fought well until Bosch went in for an attack, hyperextended Rousey’s arm and ultimately was ejected from the match for headdiving.

After the match, Rousey iced and taped her arm before her next match against Jennifer Kuijpers (NED) who, like Rousey, won a bronze medal at the 2006 Junior World Championships.